December 1987

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Features

Technology in Services

Service industries can be very technology-intensive. They can stabilize U.S. employment, make U.S. manufacturing industries more competitive and support an ever higher standard of living

By James Brian Quinn, Jordan J. Baruch and Penny Cushman Paquette

The Moon's Ancient Magnetism

The moon is now a dead body, but it seems once to have generated its own magnetic field. Since then it has been shifted with respect to its spin axis-perhaps by collisions with moon-orbiting satellites

By S. K. Runcorn

How Animal Cells Move

They do so by bringing pieces of the outer membrane into the cytoplasm and then recycling them to the surface in a directed way. Nutrients are brought into the cell by the same process

By Mark S. Bretscher

Cosmic Strings

Why are stars and galaxies clumped rather than spread out evenly in space? What drew them together? Thin strings of energy created during the birth of the universe may have provided the attraction

By Alexander Vilenkin

Collective Computation in Neuronlike Circuits

Electronic circuits based on neurobiological models are able to solve complex problems rapidly. Their computational properties emerge {rom the collective interaction of many parts linked together in a network

By David W. Tank and John J. Hopfield

Courtship in Unisexual Lizards: A Model for Brain Evolution

An all-female species of whiptail lizards presents a unique opportunity to test hypotheses regarding the nature and the evolution of sexual behavior

By David Crews

The Fracturing of Glass

Only recently have the atomic interactions underlying glass fracture been defined. The work suggests ways to slow or even stop the growth of cracks in glass and other brittle materials

By Terry A. Michalske and Bruce C. Bunker

H.M.S. Warrior

Recently restored after suffering more than a century of neglect, the vessel was the first iron-hulled, armored warship. It deterred the enemy as it sealed its fate by engendering a naval arms race

By Walter Brownlee

Departments

50 and 100 Years Ago, December 1987

All Shook up

Scientific Philanthropy

Computing Cornucopia

Force of a Different Color

Electronic Taskmasters

Vapor Lock

A Mild Alternative?

A Nervous Disposition

Flocking Together

Smoking Gun?

Physiology or Medicine

Chemistry

Physics

Computer Recreations, December 1987

Books, December 1987

Letters

Letters to the Editors, December 1987

Amateur Scientist

The Amateur Scientist, December 1987

Departments

The Authors, December 1987

Bibliography, December 1987

Purchase To Read More

Digital Issue ?Read or download this issue’s articles online. *A printed copy of this issue is not included. $7.99

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